U2360° TOURLeg 2: 2010

Show day: Portland - Rose Garden

15 May 2001

Show day: Portland - Rose Garden

Its Easter Morning and we were able to spend it leisurely in Seattle before heading to Portland. I nipped down to the local RiteAid drug store and bought a stack of 99c chocolate Easter bunnies, which I then snuck outside the hotel room door of all the women in our touring party. Well, it was just a gesture - thoughts of loved ones far away, etc.

Bunny duty done, I went up to the coffee shop on the corner and sat in the spring sunshine, drinking Seattle's globally famous coffee (that's what it said on the cup, anyway). Joe O' strolled by on the way back from Mass, and eventually accountant Bob and tour manager Dennis wandered past too so we sat and enjoyed what remained of the morning. It was nice to have a gentle start... then off we go... back on with the running shoes, pick up your bags and head for Elevation Air. From here your feet won't touch the ground till we go to bed in Los Angeles at about 4am...

"I beg your pardon..." we were all singing on the way to the venue. (Who had a hit with that, anyway?) Robbie Robertson came to the gig, and it was also nice to see my buddy Lance Bangs, film maker extaordinaire. He lives here now & recently became the proud father of the extremely small Marshall Tucker Bangs. Bono asked the audience if anyone had seen a brown leather brief case. General bemusement followed, till he explained that this is where said case went walkabout when U2 first played here in '81. It contained many precious things including what would have been the lyrics to the October album. He's not bitter about it.

Finished that Hitchcock biography, by the way, and was slightly nonplussed by how extraordinarily dull his life appears to have been, outside of making the occasional genius movie. Top five? I'd go 'Psycho', 'Rear Window', 'Vertigo', 'The Birds', 'Dial M for Murder'. Also highly rated: 'Strangers on a Train', 'Notorious' & 'Marnie' (in a weird kind of a way). Never was a fan of 'North By Northwest' & 'Frenzy' blew chunks. Discuss.